I've never been a Ramirez fan and he has surprised me and outearned my projections for a few years. He could surprise me again but I see his numbers being the same or slightly worse than last year. If he hit lefties better he would be a star.

Huff on the other hand is on the verge of becoming a full fantasy stud. He got better and better as the season went on (of course he started off crappy). He is getting a better lineup around him. If the team doesn't screw up Upton's career the top 4 of Crawford, Upton, Lugo and Huff could be very potent. And finally Huff has no holes in his game. THis time next year we will be drafting the multi-position eligible Huff in the first round. He is the next Larry Jones IMO.

I'll take Huff but they are real close. R, RBI, and HR should all be close IMO. Huff should hit for a higher BA. Neither one steals much at all but with Pinellia as a manager I bet Huff gets 3 or 4 more SB than ARAM. Add in the fact that Huff is 3B/1B/OF eligible and I think he has more value.

Pedantic wrote:I'll take Huff. I'm very bear-ish on Aramis. He seems like the kind of player that slips in and out of mediocrity.

I wouldn't count on mediocrity just yet. Since he's been a fulltime player (2001), he's hit .282 w avg 29 HR and 98 RBI a year. Since being a Cub he has produced consisitently without any slumps. He produced his best numbers across the board last year (cut K's by 1/3) and is now a solid fielder.

Numbers probably won't be greatly improved upon this year, but see no reason to think they'll be reduced either.

I'll take ARam ... but barely. His MLB history suggests last year was more progression than fluke; I've got him safely for .300+, 30+, 100+ with a potentially huge upside (he's just hitting the magical 27 y/o).
That said, I've got Huff only a half-step back. If I end up with an ARod, Rolen or Beltre earlier, I'd skip ARam and jump on Huff's 3-position eligibility.

I think I'd take Huff. His horrible start last year indicates that he might have a significant improvement if he manages to avoid a slump like that this year (similar to Tejada from '03 to '04). And even though people are saying that A-Ram has a better park, better lineup, etc., what's really important in projecting how a player will do this year is analyzing what's changed in comparison to last year. For A-Ram, I'd say the lineup's gotten slightly worse, although he'll probably be hitting in a better spot, so there's probably not much overall change. For Huff, the lineup around him is consantly improving.

But as others have said, position eligibility is the key. If you haven't drafted a 1B or 3B yet, you can just take Huff, and it dramatically increases your options as the draft progresses, since you know you can take either a 1B or 3B. Of course, if you've already drafted a top 1B like Pujols, Teixeira, Thome, Ortiz, or Delgado, then it's hard to say which one you should take...I happen to like Huff, but going purely by past stats, A-Ram may be the smarter pick.